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Where are there houses or townhouses in reasonably safe areas in the $300,000 range within an hour commute of manhatten?

Looking online, I see houses in that range on staten island, in queens (far rockaway), bronx (Harding Park, Throggs Neck), mount vernon, yonkers, and NJ (places like Bloomfield, Kearny, Teaneck, Maplewood). Are all of these in unsafe places? If so, where else could I look?

There are areas of Queens and the Bronx that are OK, I'm guessing the $300k places are not among them though. I know parts of Yonkers are OK also, but not all of it. I don't know enough about the other areas to comments, except that you can definitely get something in Staten Island in a safe area for that, although not all of Staten Island is safe. And you may be pushing your 1 hour a bit depending on where you are in Staten Island and where you are going to in Manhattan. I'm at nearly the southernmost tip of Staten Island, I can get from my house to the train to the ferry on the ground at the southernmost tip of Manhattan dowtown in about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Depending on where you live, you could probably get that to around 45-50 minutes, but if you are going uptown you still have a ways to go from there.

Harding Park isn't the greatest area. Nothing down there but old houses. The little Puerto Rico section has one lane streets, and small shack style houses are built so tightly they are in peoples yards, ect. There are a lot of boarded up properties as well in the area. Lots of gangs (Crip tags cover the abandonded homes) and poverty. This area is also south of the higher crime Soundview area, one of the cities most violent areas. There are a number of huge public housing complexes just north of Harding Park in the Soundview section. The drug addicts and homeless also use the waterfront to get high and sleep.

Right now there is a lot of overdevelopment in the area. There were a lot of undeveloped lots in the area along the water front. Tons of 3 family townhouses going up everywhere. Overcrowding a neighborhood where the only retail is 1 supermarket, and a couple of bodegas. Mabey a 99 cent store.

Throgs Neck is nice, but it's starting to go downhill. At least the area around the Throgs Neck Projects. A kid was killed 2 or 3 weeks ago in Throgs Neck during a robbery gone bad. This area is also facing a lot of overdevelopment. A lot of lower income people are just starting to move in. You should be fine if you live on the opposite side from the projects.

Mount Vernon and Yonkers both have pretty bad areas. Usually around the projects. Mount Vernon has a public housing complex just north of the Bronx boarder, walking distance from the Boston Secor PJ's in the Bronx. Yonkers also has a pretty bad project. The rest outside these parts is decent.

Far Rockaway in Queens is also a pretty ****ty area. Mostly vacant lots and public housing. In Queens stay away from Jamaica, Hollis, Far Rock, Corona and East Elmhurst. Also do not move in near public housing.

I have a friend who has a friend who paid $300k for a 1/1 condo an hour commute away from Manhattan. Mind you that was a nice condo in a good neighboorhood. If you find something much larger, it wont be in a good neighboorhood or prices have gone down in half(doubt that)

I don't know of any place that sells homes for 300K in the New York area. Most are somewhere between 450-600K. Mind you that's pretty cheap for the NY area. I'm not saying it's impossible, it'll just be hard to find.

Also, there are nice sections of Hollis and Jamaica and other aforementioned areas of Queens, but you'll have to know where to look. And even then houses will run you upwards of 600K.

You can definitely get a 1/1 condo or coop in Brooklyn, Queens, or a really nice one in Staten Island at $300k, fwiw. Not everything is in that price range, obviously, but there is some selection in decent areas. Go on foxtons.com, they have a bunch of pics and floorplans to get an idea.

Foxtons only shows its own listings on their website. To see everything, click the real estate link on yahoo or
www.realtor.com (broken link)

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